Promoting Your Podcast – Gaining More Listeners November 19, 2007

You have been a lot of help in the past. I finally got my podcast Losing Weight After Baby.com up and running on Libsyn. So far we have 11 shows. I have registered it on every directly I know of. According to the Libsyn stats we get about 100 downloads per a week.
How would you increase the exposer the show gets?

Post to Websites, Forums, Podcasts, and Blogs:
First, I would do what you’re doing now. You posted a comment to my blog with the link to the rss feed and the itunes link. As long as you just don’t post the links, but ask something, say something meaningful, or stroke someone’s ego (i.e. “You have been a lot of help in the past.”… you won’t get spam filtered or deleted. Also, most blogs screen out more than two links, so be cautious about adding comments with three links on a blog. Find sites, forums, podcasts, and blogs about your subject. In your case, there are plenty of pregnancy sites / blogs that you could get into where the women will think about you later, and plenty of newborn sites that you could get on. Take a week and just find all of them. Dedicate yourself to posting meaningful and helpful posts on forums about your subject. Also, exchange audio promos or links with podcasters around the same subject. Just record an intro to another persons podcast, and mail it to them. Tell them you are willing to do the same on yours. Lastly, it goes without saying to get in all the podcast directories you can find.

Create a Press Release:
Press releases are a great way to get picked up by online media. Companies like PRWeb or PRNewswire can help you out with that. They’ll even let you pick and choose markets and sites for the press release to be distributed to. After doing this, you will see a big influx of listeners. Make sure you have a good set of shows (11 is good), the last one is amazing, and your last 3 or 5 have been fairly consistent (or else you’ll lose that initial influx).

Distribute Content Everywhere:
I’m now seeing the huge benefits of distributing your content to as many places as possible. Speaking in general terms, if your podcast is video, put it on youtube, google, veoh, etc. If audio, make a 30 second video promo of your podcast (it could just be pictures, an explanation, etc… BUT… it’s better to do something useful) and put that promo out there for everyone to see. The last still frame should say something like “Learn more at http:…” and give them the link. If you can help 50 people out there on YouTube with a clip of something you talked about on your last podcast… do it. Then, drive them to your site by telling them where to get more help. There are companies like TubeMogul that will help you do this as well… you submit your video to them… and they post it all over the net.

I think these three things will get you started, and will get you a lot more listeners than you have now. Creating a press release is a one time thing, unless you change something drastically. The content distribution is just good practice and should become routine. I think the most time consuming, but maybe the most important, is the connections you can make with other sites, forums, podcasts, and blogs.

About Jeffrey Daniel Frey

Jeff is the Web Services Manager for Enterprise Applications in the Information Technology Department at Rice University. He provides technology solutions for faculty, staff, and students on campus as well as teaches new technology courses. He is involved in the creation of podcasts for businesses and non-profits, and is currently focusing on how new technologies can integrate and benefit universities and businesses alike. Jeff is available to speak or teach workshops on podcasting or other new internet technologies, and can consult with you on your company/non-profit. learn more about Jeff here>>----------- EMAIL JEFF -----------